The System of Mushawarat in Jama'at-e-Ahmadiyya — Page 405
T he S ystem of M ushawarat in J ama ‘ at - e -A hmadiyya and deliberation and their ability to resolve problems w ill suffer. So, if it is merely upon the few o f us to decide that the rights o f the people should be taken away from them and entrusted to a certain group o f people, and we fail to take into account the overall opinion o f the Jama'at, this would result in some serious flaws, and the standard o f our reflection and deliberation w ill surely suffer. The present practice is that members o f every Jama'at are in timated about the contents o f the Shura’s Agenda. The opinion o f the members are then elicited and are finally conveyed to the Shura through their representatives. . . Hence if the delegates had sought the opinion o f the members o f their Jama'ats, and-if the consensus had been in favour o f the proposal that office-bearers should be appointed through an electoral college, then the objec tion— that the right o f vote to be exercised by each individual has been taken away—w ill not stand. I am not sure whether the proposals were presented to the Jama'ats or not, but if the majority o f the Jama'at voted for the suggested procedure, then the question o f depriv ing individuals o f their right w ill become invalid. When somebody w illingly entrusts his right to another, we can not say that his right has been taken away. But if the members o f the Jama'ats were not taken into confidence, and the decision was made arbitrarily, then this method would certainly amount to robbing people o f their rights. But if the issue was actually taken up and discussed by the members o f the Jama'at, and the majority voted for entrusting the function (o f appointing the office-bearers) to an electoral college, then this would not be depriving people o f their lawful rights, but would imply that they have voluntarily delegated their right to others. So if all 40 5